Tiffanie S. McCoy, Owner, Event/Wedding Planner, Bird of Paradise Events is a Baltimore native. I spent many years serving as an Assistant to some of Baltimore’s prominent Presidents and CEO’s. I was also a member of the women ministries planning committee (W.I.N.G.S.) at my church planning monthly church wide events. After planning many large scale meetings and events for work, friends and family she decided to pursue learning more about professionally planning weddings and events and opening her own business. In 2008, she started Bird of Paradise Events, since she has designed a host of weddings, planned, assisted and managed non-profit galas and fundraisers, planned successful events including her own “baby” in 2011- Bird of Paradise Events presents…”A Business Showcase Soiree” including two of her industry partners Desserts Designed by Angela Wage and Dionisa’s Designs by Dionisa Santiago.

How did you get into wedding planning?

Who doesn’t love weddings? We all do. Most importantly your wedding day will be one of the most important events in your life. Planning a wedding can either make a bride super happy or super stressed, we vote for super happy. Brides should enjoy planning their wedding. They should enjoy their complete wedding day- taking every minute in, the day goes pass quickly! Brides shouldn’t have to worry about place cards, floral deliveries, décor placement etc…We love weddings and everything WEDDING! That’s how we got started!

I think everyone should have the opportunity to do what they LOVE! I love to be creative, I love to make my clients happy!

What’s your favorite part of planning a wedding?

I have so many favorite parts…I enjoy meeting with my brides listening to their visions and making it all a reality…on the wedding day seeing all that has been done in 1 year or 6 weeks…come together so beautifully.

What’s your favorite moment in the course of a wedding day?

When the bride/groom takes a moment out of there busy night to say “thank you!” I know my job is done!

We know that our industry has a large scale of professionals and knowing that we strive for 100% client satisfaction. We offer full service event planning, we offer our brides and clients our attention to detail, and we offer reasonable priced packages

What are the current wedding trends?

Trending are color wedding dresses! Yes, and they are beautiful baby blues, mint greens and the bridesmaids dresses mix and match themes (long, short, solids and prints) the not so traditional. I think it’s beginning to reflect more individuality than tradition~

What advice would you give to brides who believe they don’t need a wedding planner?

The response from the majority of Brides “I can’t afford a planner. It’s just not in my budget “If you think about the amount of money you allocate to feeding your guests, hiring the photographer to take the perfect photos, picking a DJ/band that will get the party started, yet couples tend to skimp when it comes to hiring a planner that will orchestrate the whole day! Why stop at hiring the planner. In reality we can SAVE YOU MONEY & TIME! We as wedding planners have relationships with various vendors and venues since we work on many weddings and events. We can also help you put together a realistic budget. In the end the money and time saved might be greater than the cost of the planner, so you basically got the planner for FREE!

In your opinion, what part of the wedding planning process deserves the most attention?

The budget is the most important element in wedding planning. Having a budget, even a rough estimate of one can make it easier for you to negotiate prices. If you know what you want to spend on, for example, your wedding cake, and you know what the average cost is for what you want, then you can make sure the vendor understands as well what you are not willing to pay. Decide what you want to splurge on and other areas that may not be as important.

Bird of Paradise Events is a full service event planning company for all your event needs. We have been planning successful weddings and events since 2008. We oversee the logistics of your event, including all the planning and legwork (from START to FINISH!).